Sustainable development, demography and sexual and reproductive health: inseparable linkages and their policy implications
This article focuses on efforts to address and harness demographic changes for sustainable development, which are largely outside the purview of the current debate. Efforts to this end must be based on the recognition that demographic changes are the cumulative result of individual choices and opportunities, and that demographic changes are best addressed through policies that enlarge these choices and opportunities, with a focus on ensuring unrestricted and universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services, empowering women to fully participate in social, economic and political life, and investin...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - June 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Michael Herrmann Source Type: research
Poverty, food security and universal access to sexual and reproductive health services: a call for cross-movement advocacy against neoliberal globalisation
Abstract: Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services is one of the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development of 1994. The Millennium Development Goals were intended above all to end poverty. Universal access to health and health services are among the goals being considered for the post-2015 agenda, replacing or augmenting the MDGs. Yet we are not only far from reaching any of these goals but also appear to have lost our way somewhere along the line. Poverty and lack of food security have, through their multiple linkages to health and access to health care, deterred progress towar...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - June 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: TK Sundari Ravindran Source Type: research
The sustainable development agenda and unmet need for sexual and reproductive health and rights
In the lead-up to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, thousands of people have travelled tens of thousands of miles, circling the globe many times, contributing to climate change, to attend consultations, official meetings and sessions and stay up all night in negotiations on content and language, arguing sometimes successfully and with great excitement, and sometimes bitterly and in anger, about what the new sustainable development agenda should include. The process could, on one level, be described as inclusiveness gone mad, but at the same time deserves high praise for inclusiveness compared to the process of ...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - June 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Marge Berer Source Type: research
Statement from the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion
The International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion is a coalition of organizations and networks that support women’s right to safe, legal abortion, with members in 108 countries across the globe. Our aims are to promote universal access to safe, legal abortion as a women’s health and human rights issue, and to support women’s autonomy to make their own decisions whether and when to have children and have access to the means of acting on those decisions without risk to their health and lives. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Issues in Current Policy Source Type: research
Bookshelf: National Contraception and Fertility Planning Policy and Service Delivery Guidelines
Department of Health, Pretoria, South Africa, December 2012 (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Tags: Bookshelf Source Type: research
Poverty, food security and universal access to sexual and reproductive health services: a call for cross-movement advocacy against neoliberal globalisation
Universal access to sexual and reproductive health services is one of the goals of the International Conference on Population and Development of 1994. The Millennium Development Goals were intended above all to end poverty. Universal access to health and health services are among the goals being considered for the post-2015 agenda, replacing or augmenting the MDGs. Yet we are not only far from reaching any of these goals but also appear to have lost our way somewhere along the line. Poverty and lack of food security have, through their multiple linkages to health and access to health care, deterred progress towards univers...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: TK Sundari Ravindran Source Type: research
“Female Condoms Are_____”: Bringing local voices to decision-makers through a film contest
Female condoms are an important option for dual protection, yet awareness and availability remain too low in too many places, including areas with high rates of HIV infection and unmet need for modern contraception. Negative attitudes, perceived lack of demand, and tepid political will amongst international donors and policymakers are factors that continue to hamper widespread availability.1 A variety of advocacy approaches are needed to help create an enabling environment to make female condoms a real choice for women and men. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Kimberly J Whipkey, Laura East, Patricia S Coffey Source Type: research
Induced abortion patterns and determinants among married women in China: 1979 to 2010
This study assesses trends in and determinants of induced abortion among married women aged 20–49 in China from 1979 to 2010, using data from national statistics and nationally representative sample surveys. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Cuntong Wang Source Type: research
Conscientious objection, barriers, and abortion in the case of rape: a study among physicians in Brazil
In Brazil, to have a legal abortion in the case of rape, the woman’s statement that rape has occurred is considered sufficient to guarantee the right to abortion. The aim of this study was to understand the practice and opinions about providing abortion in the case of rape among obstetricians-gynecologists (OBGYNs) in Brazil. A mixed-method study was conducted from April to July 2012 with 1,690 OBGYNs who responded to a structured, electronic, self-completed questionnaire. In the quantitative phase, 81.6% of the physicians required police reports or judicial authorization to guarantee the care requested. (Source: Reprodu...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Debora Diniz, Alberto Madeiro, Cristião Rosas Source Type: research
Losing an only child: the one-child policy and elderly care in China
China has had the one-child policy for more than 30 years. It reduced China’s population growth within a short period of time and promoted economic development. However, it has also led to difficulties, and this paper focuses on those which pertain to ageing and losing one’s only child. Approximately one million families have lost their only child in China. They suffer mentally and physically, and sometimes face social stigma and economic loss. What worries them most, however, is elderly care, which has become a severe crisis for the families who have lost their only children. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Yu Song Source Type: research
The use of social media among adolescents in Dar es Salaam and Mtwara, Tanzania
Social media form part of the rapid worldwide digital development that is re-shaping the life of many young people. While the use of social media by youths is increasingly researched in the North, studies about youth in the South are missing. It therefore remains unclear how social media can be included in interventions that aim at informing young people in many countries of the global South about sexual and reproductive health. This paper presents findings of a mixed-methods study of young people’s user behaviour on the internet and specifically of social media as a platform for sexual health promotion in Tanzania. (Sou...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Constanze Pfeiffer, Matthis Kleeb, Alice Mbelwa, Collins Ahorlu Source Type: research
Sustainable development, demography and sexual and reproductive health: inseparable linkages and their policy implications
This article focuses on efforts to address and harness demographic changes for sustainable development, which are largely outside the purview of the current debate. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Michael Herrmann Source Type: research
Women’s perceptions about abortion in their communities: perspectives from western Kenya
Unsafe abortion in Kenya is a leading cause of maternal morbidity and mortality. In October 2012, we sought to understand the methods married women aged 24–49 and young, unmarried women aged ≤ 20 used to induce abortion, the providers they utilized and the social, economic and cultural norms that influenced women’s access to safe abortion services in Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties in western Kenya. We conducted five focus groups with young women and five with married women in rural and urban communities in each county. (Source: Reproductive Health Matters)
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Heather M Marlow, Sylvia Wamugi, Erick Yegon, Tamara Fetters, Leah Wanaswa, Sinikiwe Msipa-Ndebele Source Type: research
Female genital cutting in Hargeisa, Somaliland: is there a move towards less severe forms?
According to several sources, little progress is being made in eliminating the cutting of female genitalia. This paper, based on qualitative interviews and observations, explores perceptions of female genital cutting and elimination of the phenomenon in Hargeisa, Somaliland. Two main groups of participants were interviewed: (1) 22 representatives of organisations whose work directly relates to female genital cutting; and (2) 16 individuals representing different groups of society. It was found that there is an increasing use of medical staff and equipment when a girl undergoes the procedure of female genital cutting; the u...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Ingvild Bergom Lunde, Mette Sagbakken Source Type: research
Sexual and reproductive health and rights in the evolving post-2015 agenda: perspectives from key players from multilateral and related agencies in 2013
This paper reports the views of participants from key multilaterals and related agencies in the evolving global negotiations on the post-2015 development agenda on the strategic location of sexual and reproductive health and rights. The research was carried out in June and July 2013, following the release of the report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda, and comprised 40 semi-structured interviews with 57 participants and two e-mail respondents. All respondents were responsible for the post-2015 health and development agenda, or the post-2015 agenda more broadly, within their org...
Source: Reproductive Health Matters - May 1, 2014 Category: Global & Universal Authors: Claire E Brolan, Peter S Hill Source Type: research
